The Martial Unity

Although Rui had immense difficulty with Seismic Mapping, he was quite excited to eventually master it. The technique had an immense amount of utility. If he had possessed the technique when undertaking missions there was a good chance he would have been able to save Bella Hier and a good chance he would have been able to ensure the bandit operation in the Shadow Trails would have gone more smoothly.

Furthermore, just being able to sense his surroundings to this degree would give him a lot of security and confidence. Only a Martial Artist with incredible stealth techniques and covert capabilities would be able to sneak past his senses once he mastered Seismic Mapping.

"Alright, enough about that." he said as he stood before the stealth training facility.

It was finally time for Rui get acquainted with the final technique he had purchased; Blink.

The stealth training facility was also unexpectedly large. Despite the fact that stealth technique was merely a sub-section in the miscellaneous section of the Apprentice library.

In many a way the stealth training facility was similar to the sensory training facility. There were specialized environments that he could see Martial Apprentices training in, and specialized forms of training for each technique.

"Squire Helen." Rui bowed respectfully for the fourth time in a day. "I am Martial Apprentice Rui Quarrier. I've come here to learn the Blink technique."

She was a short middle-aged woman with a demure stature, she turned around, glancing at him.

"Blink huh?" She sized him up. "Good choice." She said. "I hope you understand what the technique is capable of. Most people who purchase this technique have exaggerated ideas of how powerful the technique is."

"I believe I understand the technique well enough."

"Do you?" She threw a skeptical expression at him.

"It's a technique that exploits the opening created by blinking to achieve more than what they would otherwise."

"Correct, 'more', not everything." She replied. "This technique cannot end a fight in most cases. Nor is it something that is meant to be abused in a fight. Most Martial Artists aren't morons, if you abuse it too much they'll figure it out and will not only counter it but also use it to set up traps. In combat, this is a trump card, understand?"

Rui nodded. He was already aware that this technique would not make him invincible or allow him to end the fight instantly unless his opponent was a human or a careless Martial Artist. After all, the technique was priced at only three hundred and fifty

She relaxed a bit when she saw he didn't have any fancy considerations about the technique.

"The technique works best against humans. Humans blink for a longer period of time in combat than Martial Artists because of their slower cognition. Against humans, this technique is extremely effective and can allow you to effectively cross even a hoard of people unnoticed if you time it well." She said. "Against Martial Apprentices, it's more difficult and limited. Martial Apprentices have enhanced cognition in combat, they blink at a similar rate as you do."

Rui nodded in response.

"Against Martial Apprentices, you can only use it as a way to surprise them. In order to understand how this happens, you first need to understand how Martial Artists think in combat."

"Humans in general, but especially Martial Artists don't identify and react to an attack purely after it has been launched. In most cases, Martial Artists subconsciously analyze movements to partially gauge and partially predict what the opponent is about to do."

Rui nodded. This was a well-documented phenomenon in neurology. Even in the twentieth-century, it was well shown that the human brain was constantly in a predictive mode, trying to infer outcomes from phenomena.

This could be demonstrated with simple experiments. Why most humans flinch when an object approached them at high speed even at a distance. Because the human brain has already evaluated the motion of the object and plotted out its trajectory and inferred that there is a high chance the object would collide with the body.

"The brain subconsciously looks at the early signs of an attack and partially makes the decision to avoid the strike based on the early evaluation." She said. "When using Blink in combat, your aim should not be to attack when your Martial Apprentice blinks, but to hide the early signs of attack when your opponent blinks."

She paused, before continuing. "This way, when your opponent opens their eyes, they will not be able to rely on the partial prediction their mind makes subconsciously. This will hinder their reaction and in most cases you should be able to perform far better with the attack, at least."

"Hiding the initial signs of the attack during the blink is better than moving during the blink?" Rui asked.

"It's not about choosing which is better." She corrected. "You don't have a choice at all. You cannot begin, move and complete an attack in the middle of a blink of a Martial Apprentice" She said. "Martial Apprentices blink too quickly and you're not fast enough, as a Martial Apprentice yourself. Only a Martial Squire could do that, and maybe some extraordinary peak Martial Apprentices with a maneuvering style Martial Art."

"I see..." Rui nodded, engrossed.

"In the middle of combat, the technique should be used an opening-creator. Outside of combat, it is best used as a surveillance-escaper. Against a human, the Blink technique, like all Martial Apprentice techniques, is invincible." She said as she put some distance between them.

"This what a well-executed Blink technique looks like."

Rui focused as he maximized his alertness. She stared at him for nearly ten seconds, motionless.

Then it came.

BLINK

One moment she was ten meters away, the next moment she landed right in front of him.

The abruptness of it all was so shocking that Rui tripped and fell backwards.

"Woah..." He murmured in amazement.

"Now." She said with a serious expression. "Your turn."